Noblesse Oblige
by Newkirk's Heroes
Summary: *Third Chapter Up*. Wherein two Russian aristocrats have escaped the Revolution to Egypt. Wherein they have brought something with them, and a group of crazed mystics wants it. Wherein our favorite heroes are called upon to help. Please read & review!!
1. Default Chapter

NOBLESSE OBLIGE   
  
A/N: All right, this takes place a year after The Mummy (I)…so it is now 1927. Rick, Evelyn, and Jonathan are still in Cairo. And, so as to avoid any copyright infringements (ha!), the only characters in this story that belong to me (so far…there may be more later!) are Lilia Mikhailov and Vassily Mikhailov.  
  
Oh! Ya! Anything between these things (*) denotes a thought…(e.g. *Great!* Jonathan thought)  
  
  
~ St. Petersburg, Russia: 1918 ~  
  
"Come on!" Vassily Mikhailov cried, reaching desperately for his sister's hand. The train station was filled with panicky people, all of the Russian noblesse, desperately trying to escape the anger of the Bolsheviks. Czar Nicholas and his family had, only days before, been forcibly 'removed' from the great palace in St. Petersburg, and now the damned Socialists were exacting their revenge on the aristocracy.  
  
"Vassily! We cannot! Everything is at home…everything!" The nine-year-old girl sobbed, the closeness of the station and the screaming of the people scaring her. But, also frightening Vassily's baby sister was the knowledge of what they had left behind.   
  
"You have it, don't you?" Vassily shouted, his brow creasing in worry as he forced his way through the throng of frightened people. This was the last train out of the city for God-only-knew how long, and Vassily wanted he and his sister aboard, away from the turmoil of the coming Revolution. But…she had to have it! If not, then it would all be for naught…she had to have it…  
  
"Da, of course I do, but…" she started, but the girl was unable to finish. Yet, it was enough to belay Vassily's fears. As long as she had it. Plus, they had arrived at the train. Vassily shoved his younger sister, twelve years his junior, aboard, and then followed her, practically pushing away the others struggling to get aboard. He grabbed his sister's hand and led her to an empty compartment, and the train started with a steam-sounded shudder. The pandemonium of the station still echoed, though, along with the wounded cries of the Russian upper class, in its last death throes.  
  
"We will switch trains in Sofia, to Istanbul. And from Istanbul, we shall be able to get to Cairo." Vassily comforted his sister, who was looking around with saucer-shaped eyes, her face white and her whole body shaking. Vassily cursed inside his head…those damned Bolsheviks! Didn't they see what they were doing? All this confusion…and, Lord, the Czar was probably dead. An entire way of life had been destroyed. An entire country had been enveloped, and Russia…Russia…Vassily couldn't even bring himself to think of what would happen to his beloved Russia.  
  
"Oh Vassily…why?" The small girl sobbed suddenly, and Vassily pressed her against his body, holding her close. The damned, dirty Bolsheviks! The devils! And his parents…Vassily could not even bare to think of what could have happened to them. Vassily pictured his father, a noble, tall man, who had gone off to fight the Germans, and had been injured in so doing. What had they done to him, the Communists? What had they done to Russia?  
  
"We shall be fine, darling, fine. Once in Cairo…once in Cairo, we will be able to rebuild what was destroyed." He comforted, but he .  
  
"What if they find them, though? What if they find them? We have it, but what if they find the other things?" The child sobbed, but her words were blurred, and Vassily had not idea what she meant.  
  
He would not have an idea, actually, about his baby sisters mutterings, for over nine years.  
  
~ Cairo, Egypt: 1927 ~  
  
A knock sounded on Rick O'Connell's front door, and he smiled. It was probably Evelyn. No matter how close they had become (and they had become quite close!) the prim and proper librarian always knocked. It was so sweet, Rick reflected, but when he opened the door, it was not Evelyn.  
  
It was a tall, dark haired, tattooed Egyptian man with a stern visage and an overall air of mystery and magic about him.  
  
Ardeth Bay, Med-Jai Warrior Chieftain.  
  
"Well, hello there." Rick raised an eyebrow, a bit taken aback at Ardeth's presence. The Med-Jai raised an eyebrow right back at the American. Then, the two men smiled warmly at each other, and Rick motioned for Ardeth to enter. Ardeth nodded, and did just that.  
  
"And how are you getting along, my friend?" The Med-Jai inquired.  
  
"Ah, as well as can be! One year, and we're still mummy-free. Wonderful!" Rick exclaimed, laughing. Ardeth allowed a small smile.  
  
"Let us hope it stays that way." Ardeth remarked in his usual austere manner.  
  
"Ah. So…what can I do for you?" Rick asked, clasping his hands together.  
  
"I was hoping to speak to Miss Carnahan, actually. I have found something that she may be interested in, and I would like to show her." Ardeth explained, taking a small box out of his long, black robes.  
  
"All right! You've just given me an excuse to go see her!" Rick winked, and Ardeth allowed another smile, this one a bit brighter. Though he appeared mystifying and somewhat threatening, Ardeth Bay was really a kind man, and a wonderful friend to have. Especially if you had any difficulty with ancient curses and deadly mummies. Unfortunately, Rick O'Connell, his girl Evelyn Carnahan, and Evelyn's brother Jonathan Carnahan, had had their fare share of experiences with curses and mummies.  
  
"Shall we?" Ardeth motioned.  
  
"Yes we shall. Hopefully Jonathan will be there so I can 'ask' him to pay me back the money I lent him…in what, I assume, was a moment of blind stupidity." Rick smirked, and Ardeth actually laughed at bit.  
  
The two men left Rick's small-but-neat house towards the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities.   
  
***  
  
Jonathan Carnahan, at that precise moment, was not in the Museum. Oh, he was near enough so that he could see the ornate statuary guarding the entrance, and he had actually been on his way to the Museum. He had just been a bit…side-tracked on his way.  
  
He smiled, licking his lips.  
  
The girl looked lost, and Jonathan was always one for helping the lost. Especially if they were young and good-looking. She didn't see him approach (which was generally a good thing, in Jonathan's case), and when he laid a hand on her shoulder, she jumped a bit.  
  
"Ah, sorry to scare you, miss, but you seemed a bit lost to me…" Jonathan smiled smoothly.  
  
"Nyet…I am fine, thank you." The girl replied, distractedly, shaking Jonathan's hand from her shoulder and not even really glancing at him.  
  
Jonathan pursed his lips. He was not one to give up easily in matters such as these!  
  
"Are you sure, miss, because I know this city quite well, and if you need help, I can surely…" Jonathan motioned, trailing off a bit, still smiling in his patented 'impress-the-ladies' manner.  
  
"No…I am perfectly fine, thank you." The girl replied, a bit more forcibly, and she inched a few steps away from the persistent Britisher.  
  
Jonathan simply inched a few steps closer to the girl. She had a noticeable accent to her speech…strange, definitely not Egyptian, nor American, nor English or French. It was a bit familiar, but Jonathan was not concerned with accents at that moment.  
  
"Are you perfectly sure?" Jonathan persisted, sidling up next to the girl, who shot him a look of pure hatred. Not that Jonathan wasn't used to that, of course.  
  
"Yes! I told you I was, will you please leave me alone?" The girl demanded, her accent becoming much thicker as her voice rose in anger.  
  
Jonathan was about to say something when a heavy hand fell on his shoulder. With a particularly undignified 'eep!', Jonathan whirled around to face what had to be the largest man he had ever seen. Barrel-chested, towering over the Brit's slim frame, the man regarded Jonathan as one might regard a fly.  
  
A fly that was just begging to be flicked away.  
  
The man turned from Jonathan to the girl.  
  
"Is he bothering you, Lilia?" the man asked in the same accent as the girl's, only much stronger.   
  
*Russian*, Jonathan realized *They're Russian*.   
  
"No, it's all right." The girl…Lilia…cast an annoyed look at Jonathan, and she and the man walked away, muttering in a different language. Russian, of course.  
  
Jonathan sighed. He hated being shot down.  
  
Suddenly, he heard someone laugh, and looked across the street. His sister, Evelyn, was practically consumed with giggles, and Jonathan sighed again. The only thing he hated worse than being shot down was having a witness to it.  
  
"Good show, Jonathan, good show!" Evelyn exclaimed, clapping her hands.  
  
Jonathan rolled his eyes and ran to the Museum.  
  
"She just…ah…wasn't my type! Yeah, that's it!" Jonathan tried to sound stand-offish about the whole matter, but Evelyn had known her brother far too long to be fooled by his boasting.  
  
"Of course, and that very large man didn't have any influence on you?" Evelyn prodded, motioning for Jonathan to follow her back into the Museum. Jonathan did so, shaking his head in pretend disgust.  
  
"Large!? You call him large! Come now, Evy, I've face men ten times as…AHHH!" Jonathan ended his bragging with a terrified shriek, and jumped backwards, almost tripping over himself. Evelyn started laughing again, unable to control herself.  
  
"Jonathan, that mummy is in a case, dear brother. He can't hurt you." Evelyn assured, motioning the glass encased creature that had frightened Jonathan so. The Englishman sighed, but shakily.  
  
"Well…come now. Large men, fine, but mummies? We've had our experiences with mummies." Jonathan winked good-naturedly. Despite his boasting, womanizing, drinking, gambling, and otherwise bad habits, Jonathan could always make his sister laugh.  
  
Evelyn nodded, and smiled at her ne'er-do-well brother.  
  
***  
  
"Who was that man?" Vassily Mikhailov frowned at his sister, Lilia.  
  
"I have no idea. Some big-headed Englishman." Lilia scowled, then changed her expression to a smile as her brother snorted in laughter.  
  
"He was flirting with you." Vassily winked at his younger sister. There were times, Vassily reflected, that the scared little girl she had been was almost invisible. But there were other times, especially at night, when he could still see a terrified nine-year-old under her grown-up exterior.  
  
"I know it." Lilia winked back, not privy to her brother's solemn thoughts.  
  
"Come on, let's get back home before he comes out again and I have to frighten him off." Vassily suggested, and Lilia nodded, taking his offered arm.  
  
Brother and sister walked off together.  
  
***  
  
Ardeth Bay and Rick, meanwhile, were quickly approaching the Museum of Antiquities. Actually, they passed the Russian brother and sister, but neither of them registered it…there was no reason to.   
  
"So, what exactly d'ya have for Evelyn?" Rick queried of the Med-Jai.  
  
Ardeth smiled softly.  
  
"An artifact I found…well, that I have always had, rather…quite an interesting piece. It is supposedly part of something much bigger, though that has never been proven. I was hoping Miss Carnahan could date it for me…" Ardeth explained as the two walked into the cool, dry Museum. Rick winced as they passed the mummy in the case, 'decorating' the entrance way. Mummies were definitely not Rick O'Connell's favorite things. Definitely not.  
  
"Evelyn!" Rick called, his voice echoing off the high ceilings and elaborate columns of the Museum.  
  
"Rick! I'm in the library!" Evelyn called back, the note of pleasure in her voice unmistakable. Rick smiled at that.  
  
"I'm here too!" Jonathan called.  
  
Rick smiled at that, as well, but it was a different sort of smile.  
  
"Good, Jonathan! Then I can assume my fifty dollars is also here!" Rick asked sweetly, and the American was far from surprised when the Englishman did not respond to that. Shooting Ardeth a dryly amused look, Rick and his Med-Jai friend entered the musty-scented-yet-pleasant library room of the Museum.  
  
***  
  
The three men meant trouble. It was glaringly apparent, simply by looking at them—the way they walked, the way they held themselves, trouble floated around them like a fogbank. As the two walked through the busy, Cairo streets, the other pedestrians hung back, let them pass, afraid.  
  
Well…that suited the three just fine.  
  
They were Arabic, at least partially. They did have some sort of Western look to them, but they were dark of skin and hair. They were all tall, squarely built, with odd little black tattoos at the corners of their eyes, strange symbols, somehow beautiful and dangerous at the same time. The three men were young, and strong.  
  
And they had a purpose.  
  
Somewhere, in the city, was something they wanted. And they were going to get it, one way or the other. 


	2. Chapter Two

"Where did you get this?" Evelyn asked, staring at Ardeth's artifact in wonder. As an aspiring Egyptologist, Evelyn was entranced by the beautiful relics of the ancient world, and Ardeth's was definitely beautiful.  
  
He had been carrying it around in a box, and when Evelyn had lifted the cover, her breath had almost been taken away…it was a small, golden-carved swan, elegant, majestic, and mysterious at the same time.  
  
"I have always had it. I was wondering if you could date it for me…I have always been curious as to how old it was." Ardeth admitted, for some reason sounding just a little self conscious.   
  
"May I?" Evelyn asked breathlessly, and Ardeth nodded.   
  
Evelyn carefully lifted the beautifully delicate bird out of the box and held it up to the light. Jonathan was almost drooling…the thing looked immensely valuable. But, even he knew better than to bring that up to Ardeth Bay! Even Rick, who was not the type to be spellbound by things, found himself captivated by the lovely gold carving.  
  
"Lovely." Jonathan remarked.  
  
Ardeth smiled softly.  
  
"I can never quite recall how I received it…I do not think it was given to me. But, I have always carried it with me." Ardeth explained a bit more, and Evelyn nodded.  
  
"Well, I'll go date this for you if you like." Evelyn excused herself, and walked off. Rick smiled as she went, then turned to Jonathan, still smiling.  
  
"So, Jon, about that fifty dollars…" Rick initiated.  
  
"Er…yes, of course, that fifty dollars. Eh, I will get it back to you, I swear!" Jonathan stammered, looking around nervously.  
  
"Soon, right." Rick winked.  
  
"Sure! Soon!" Jonathan nodded emphatically, and Rick rolled his eyes. Ardeth simply shook his head, smiling at the American and Briton.   
  
*Crazy Westerners* he thought to himself with a bit of a laugh.  
  
***  
  
The Mikhailov house in Cairo was a large-yet-simple structure, belaying wealth but not overbearing opulence. The house had a Victorian overall style to it, and had belonged to an English army Genera stationed in the Egyptian capital, about fifty years ago. It had not taken long for Vassily to acquire it when they had escaped from Russia, but then it never took Vassily long to do anything like that. It had never taken any Mikhailov long to attain wealth.  
  
After all, the Mikhailov family had always had some help.  
  
"Should we go out tonight?" Lilia asked her brother, bringing him out a drink and sitting next to him.  
  
"If you would like." Vassily shrugged.  
  
"You know…I was thinking, Vassily, maybe we should visit that Museum. We have been in Cairo nine years now, and that is one of the few places we have not gone." Lilia remarked thoughtfully, and Vassily raised an eyebrow at her.  
  
"Still looking for answers, eh Lilia?" Vassily guessed astutely.  
  
"Answers to what?" Lilia returned, trying to sound casual. But, she had always been bad about masking her feelings. Lilia wore her heart on her sleeve, always had, and Vassily was quite good a guessing his sister's true thoughts.   
  
"You know what." Vassily told her softly.  
  
Lilia sighed, and stared hard at her brother. Her green eyes met his brown, and then she flicked her gaze to the box laying on the night table. She always kept it close. She had to.  
  
"We were given everything but an explanation." Lilia whispered slowly.  
  
"Perhaps we were never meant to have one." Vassily countered, perhaps a bit too sharply. Lilia's eyes flashed angrily, and she turned completely from her older brother.  
  
"That's impossible. There has to be an explanation." Lilia frowned, abruptly pushing herself to her feet. Vassily sighed, shaking his head. "And I'm going to that Museum." Lilia announced, walking out of the room.  
  
"Lilia! I never said that there wasn't an explanation!" Vassily called to his sister's fleeting back, but, of course, she didn't hear. Vassily sighed and sat back down slowly. "I only said perhaps we were never meant to find it."  
  
He glanced at the box, wondering, as he had for his entire known life, what the difference between a blessing and a curse actually was.  
  
***  
  
The three men waited outside the Museum of Antiquities, sitting placidly on a public bench. They did not give any impression of impatience…in fact, if not for their strange facial tattoos and aura of danger, they would have appeared as any normal citizen of Cairo, enjoying the pleasant afternoon out of doors.  
  
They could wait. They could wait as long as necessary, really.  
  
The Museum seemed the best place to start. They were not sure where the two lived, but perhaps they would be connected to the Museum in some way. And if they did not show up there, then they would look elsewhere.  
  
The three could be quite patient when they wanted to.  
  
The largest of the three, whose given name was Melik (the surnames of the three were unknown…they probably did not even have any), stood and stared hard at the carved sculptures outside of the building, a pleasant mix of Victorian and Egyptian architecture.  
  
"If they do come…we cannot be sure that they will bring it." Melik realized softly.  
  
"If we find them…" one of the others, called Sadi, started, his voice low and thick as a fog-bank over London "We will find it."  
  
"We shall wait." The third of the three, Nedim, who was the oldest, and who, perhaps appeared the most threatening of the trio, surmised, motioning for Melik to sit back down.  
  
Melik did.  
  
The three continued to watch.  
  
***  
  
Evelyn returned to the library with Ardeth's box and swan figurine, a look of wonder and excitement still alighting her features. Ardeth stood as she entered, and gently grasped his box as she handed it back to him.  
  
"How old is it?" Rick queried, smiling at his girl's intrigued expression. Rick loved the way Evelyn got so excited about things. Even if they were only ancient artifacts, it was still endearing.   
  
"Over three thousand and fifty years, as best as I can tell. Older than the map we found." Evelyn replied, referring to a secret document showing the way to the Egyptian City of the Dead Jonathan had come across over a year ago.  
  
Jonathan shuddered.  
  
"Don't bring that map up, Evy…please, I'm trying to forget that whole…situation." Jonathan pleaded.  
  
Ardeth, who had replaced the box within his black desert robes, turned to the Britisher, arching a dark eyebrow.  
  
"It would not be wise to forget, my friend. You never know when you may have to draw on the experiences you have gained." Ardeth told Jonathan, his voice taking on a mystic, significant tone.  
  
Rick felt a sudden shudder go through him, and he blinked quickly. Something…something had just gone through him. Almost…a foreboding sense.  
  
"What's wrong?" Evelyn asked, noticing Rick's slightly perturbed expression.   
  
"Nothing…nothing, I think." Rick muttered, meeting Ardeth's eyes. The Med-Jai frowned slightly, and Jonathan shivered. The room had suddenly grown cold.  
  
"I hope it's nothing." Jonathan whispered.  
  
***  
  
And not far off, a young Russian woman approached the Museum of Antiquities, where the Three waited…patiently. 


	3. Chapter Three

Jonathan heard it first…the sharp, frightened scream coming from outside the Museum, and he jumped to his feet. Rick, Evelyn, and Ardeth frowned  
  
"What is it?" Rick demanded.  
  
"Someone's screaming out there." Jonathan announced, and started for the door. The others stared at him, confused, but Jonathan motioned for them to follow and they did.  
  
Sure enough, as the four ran out of the huge Museum doors, three large, dangerous-looking men were attacking a young woman…the same young woman who had shunned Jonathan earlier that afternoon!  
  
"HEY!" Rick cried, rushing over. The three men were roughing the girl up quite hard, and though she was putting up quite a fight, she was no match for the three of them together.  
  
"STOP IT!" Rick demanded.  
  
One of the men looked up at Rick furiously. "Stay out of this!" he snarled. Fortunately, that proved just the distraction the girl needed and she kneed the man, quite hard, in the groin. The man groaned and slumped to the ground, but one of his partners grabbed the girl and threw her down next to him.  
  
"Where is it?" He growled, taking out a small knife.  
  
The girl stared up at him, her eyes wide, but still defiant. The man repeated the question, and she set her face against him.  
  
There was a swift, swishing sound, of metal against leather, and Ardeth's shadow fell over the man, who stared up, his eyes widening in fear as he saw that the Med-Jai was brandishing his deadly-looking scimitar.  
  
"I would suggest you leave her alone." Ardeth threatened quietly.  
  
"And if we do not?" One of them spat.  
  
"Then I will be forced to kill you." The Med-Jai returned immediately.  
  
The three men stood, the one who had held the girl pushing her back down in angered force. The girl stayed against the ground, waiting. One of the men turned back as they walked off darkly.  
  
"We shall be seeing you again. You can count on it." He whispered ominously.  
  
The girl stared as they walked past.  
  
***  
  
Vassily sighed, staring at the box. He was wondering, faintly, if Lilia had actually made it to the Museum, or if she was simply sulking in some street café closer to home. The latter sounded more like his sister, who, when angered, needed time alone to burn it off. Vassily contended that when she returned home, he would apologize. It was better to admit he was wrong then bare his sister's rage, which burnt colder than a Russian winter.  
  
The box was still there. Sometimes, in his less lucid moments, Vassily believed it moved on its own.  
  
He hoped Lilia was all right. For the oddest moment, a sense of unease permeated the familiar room, and Vassily suddenly heard his sister's small voice, the way it had sounded in the Saint Petersburg train station, nine years ago. Vassily heard her voice as it had sounded then:  
  
Lost and afraid.  
  
***  
  
Lilia's Russian accent grew noticeably thicker when she was upset, and at that moment, her English was nearly incomprehensible. The others around her…the cocky, big-headed Englishman, the prim and proper English woman, the brash, charismatic American, and the tattooed, distant Egyptian…could barely understand her recounting of the details. Lilia had no idea why she was telling them anything, other than the fact that she felt she owed them. They had defended her, and then they had taken her inside and they had cleaned her up a bit, wiping away the blood and dirt. Lilia was always one to repay debts, even when they were only debts of kindness.  
  
"Wait, wait, wait…wait a minute. Now…slowly…what happened? Oh yeah, I'm Rick O'Connell, by the way." The American…Rick, apparently…held his hands up, motioning for Lilia to calm down a bit. Though not seriously hurt, Lilia knew she would be sporting a few good bruises and cuts. Which Vassily would, of course, become very upset over.  
  
"I was walking to the Museum…this Museum, in fact…obviously…and the three men attacked me. It is as simple as that." Lilia explained, trying to control the Russian in her tone.   
  
"They were looking for something." The Egyptian man surmised, his voice soft but deep, meaningful, and mysterious. Lilia turned to him, feeling an odd shudder pass through her as the man regarded her with his dark, shaded eyes.  
  
"N-No." Lilia stammered, then cursed herself mentally for stammering. All of sudden she wanted to get away from these people. She had not kept it secret for eighteen years to have it pried out of her by some nosy librarians, or whatever they were. She doubted the American and the Egyptian men were librarians.  
  
"The man said to you…'where is it'. I think he was looking for something. Yes, and I'm Jonathan Carnahan. I believe we, eh, met before." The Briton, Jonathan, gave Lilia a winning smile. Lilia raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
"Da. We did. And I have no…no idea what he was talking about. Now if you will excuse me, I should return home." Lilia got to her feet abruptly.  
  
"Wait…we can't let you leave, what if they're still out there. Oh yes, I am Evelyn Carnahan." The English woman introduced with a nice smile.  
  
"You are his sister?" Lilia asked, raising an eyebrow and motioning to Jonathan. The Englishman turned a bit red, and Rick couldn't help but laugh. Though Jonathan was a very close friend (after what they had gone through together, how could they be anything but close friends?), Rick did enjoy seeing the ne'er-do-well Englishman horribly embarrassed.   
  
"Yes…unfortunately." Evelyn rolled her eyes with a bit of a smirk. Jonathan sighed, but put on a winning smile. He could take it like a man!  
  
"I doubt, highly, that they are still out there." Lilia protested.  
  
"Look, lady…" Rick started.  
  
"Lilia." The Russian woman corrected, holding up her hand. Rick nodded, smiling a bit, and continued.  
  
"All right, look Lilia…if those three were crazy enough to attack you in the middle of a busy side walk, in broad daylight, then they will still be out there." Rick countered with a slight air of expertise. After all, he had been around the crazy evil type long enough to observe some of their habits.  
  
"Yes, they did strike me as the persistent type." Jonathan agreed.  
  
"My home is not far." Lilia returned coldly.  
  
"And what happens after you return home. What if they follow you?" The Egyptian man countered. He had not given Lilia a name, and Lilia did not expect him to give her one either.  
  
"I live with my brother." Lilia then turned to Jonathan with a bit of a sly smile. "And I believe Mr. Carnahan can describe Vassily to you."  
  
"Ah…yes, quite a…quite a fellow." Jonathan nodded, pulling on his collar a bit. Evelyn and Rick turned to the Englishman, both cocking eyebrows. Jonathan sighed and rolled his eyes melodramatically.   
  
"So I shall be leaving now. Thank you so much for your assistance. Das vedanya." Lilia nodded curtly, and turned to leave, but a hand fell on her shoulder. Lilia looked up to meet the dark eyes of the Egyptian man.  
  
"At least allow me to walk you home. I believe my friends and I would feel much better about ourselves." He compromised.  
  
"I know I would." Evelyn nodded.  
  
"Yep." Rick added. Jonathan just gave Lilia another winning smile. Lilia sighed internally and gave him a small smile back. She then turned to the Egyptian.  
  
"Fine." She sighed.  
  
"Good." He nodded, and led her out of the library, but paused before they exited the Museum. He turned to her, regarding her it seemed. Lilia frowned, unusually confused.  
  
"I am Ardeth Bay." He told her in a low voice…in fact, her very nearly whispered it. 


End file.
